Haiti plans subdued memorial 3 years after quake

By TRENTON DANIEL, Associated Press
| 11:56 a.m.Jan. 11, 2013

Edner Gue, right, and Labon Florestal work to clean up the earthquake damaged Grande College Auguste Comte de Petionville, in their neighborhood of Petionville, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The director of the elementary and high school is paying workers to clean up his school and plans to open classes even if the government does not rebuild it. On Saturday, Haiti will mark the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake that officials say killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than a million others. The disaster is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
— AP

Edner Gue, right, and Labon Florestal work to clean up the earthquake damaged Grande College Auguste Comte de Petionville, in their neighborhood of Petionville, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The director of the elementary and high school is paying workers to clean up his school and plans to open classes even if the government does not rebuild it. On Saturday, Haiti will mark the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake that officials say killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than a million others. The disaster is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
/ AP

In this picture taken Jan. 8, 2013, a cross memorializing the victims of the 2010 earthquake who are buried at the spot in mass graves is silhouetted against the setting sun in Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Saturday marks the third anniversary of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed an estimated 100,000 homes across the capital and southern Haiti, including some of the country's most iconic structures. The government put the death toll at 316,000, but no one really knows how many people died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)— AP

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In this picture taken Jan. 8, 2013, a cross memorializing the victims of the 2010 earthquake who are buried at the spot in mass graves is silhouetted against the setting sun in Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Saturday marks the third anniversary of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed an estimated 100,000 homes across the capital and southern Haiti, including some of the country's most iconic structures. The government put the death toll at 316,000, but no one really knows how many people died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
/ AP

Two Haitian vendors take shelter from the heat in the shell of a building damaged by the 2010 earthquake in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Saturday marks the third anniversary of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed an estimated 100,000 homes across the capital and southern Haiti, including some of the country's most iconic structures. The government put the death toll at 316,000, but no one really knows how many people died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)— AP

+Read Caption

Two Haitian vendors take shelter from the heat in the shell of a building damaged by the 2010 earthquake in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Saturday marks the third anniversary of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed an estimated 100,000 homes across the capital and southern Haiti, including some of the country's most iconic structures. The government put the death toll at 316,000, but no one really knows how many people died. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
/ AP

Residents of the Jean-Marie Vincent camp for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake, wait for customers outside their tent where they have set up a stand to sell rice, oil and canned goods, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Saturday marks the third anniversary of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed an estimated 100,000 homes across the capital and southern Haiti, including some of the country's most iconic structures. There are nearly 360,000 people still living in the encampments that sprouted throughout the city after the earthquake. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)— AP

+Read Caption

Residents of the Jean-Marie Vincent camp for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake, wait for customers outside their tent where they have set up a stand to sell rice, oil and canned goods, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Saturday marks the third anniversary of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that destroyed an estimated 100,000 homes across the capital and southern Haiti, including some of the country's most iconic structures. There are nearly 360,000 people still living in the encampments that sprouted throughout the city after the earthquake. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)
/ AP

Edner Gue pushes a wheelbarrow filled with rubble as he works to clean up the earthquake damaged Grande College Auguste Comte de Petionville, in his neighborhood of Petionville, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The director of the elementary and high school is paying workers to clean up his school and plans to open classes even if the government does not rebuild it. On Saturday, Haiti will mark the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake that officials say killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than a million others. The disaster is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. (APPhoto/Dieu Nalio Chery)— AP

+Read Caption

Edner Gue pushes a wheelbarrow filled with rubble as he works to clean up the earthquake damaged Grande College Auguste Comte de Petionville, in his neighborhood of Petionville, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The director of the elementary and high school is paying workers to clean up his school and plans to open classes even if the government does not rebuild it. On Saturday, Haiti will mark the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake that officials say killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than a million others. The disaster is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. (APPhoto/Dieu Nalio Chery)
/ AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti 
The Haitian government plans a low-key ceremony Saturday for the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the country and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

President Michel Martelly will preside over a subdued memorial on the grounds of the former National Palace, which was destroyed in the disaster and later demolished. Senior government officials and diplomats are expected to attend.

Martelly said he hopes the poor Caribbean nation's people use the anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, disaster to think about how they can improve their lives.

"The main thing for me is to use this day to plunge Haitians into deep reflection," Martelly said Friday. "I need tomorrow to bring my country, my people enough reflection where they decide to do things in other ways."

Martelly is to give a speech Saturday morning and then go to a mass grave north of the capital to lay a wreath. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, will also visit the burial site.

The United Nations plans a small private memorial. Last year, the U.N. held a service to remember its 102 employees who died - the biggest loss of life of U.N. personnel in a single disaster.

Haiti's government says the quake killed about 316,000 people. An additional 1.5 million people landed in impromptu settlements around the capital and other cities in the south.

People have moved out of the more visible camps in public plazas but there are still more than 350,000 people living in the camps, according to the International Organization of Migration, a humanitarian group that helps people displaced by disaster and conflict.

The reconstruction effort has been slow to take hold because of political paralysis, the level of devastation and a trickle of aid. Only slightly more than half of the $5.3 billion pledged by donors has been released, according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti.

The government said that this year Jan. 12 will not be a holiday marking the earthquake as in the last two years. But it said in a statement it has asked that the Haitian flag be flown at half-mast and that nightclubs be closed.

Officials last year noted the occasion with back-to-back news conferences and meetings with Clinton in attendance and foreign aid groups touting their accomplishments.